Airlines Report Russian GPS Jamming In Four Regions

According to a new report citing a French aviation formal, Russia’s military is jamming airline satellite navigation close to the Black Sea, jap Finland and Kaliningrad, a little Russian province together the Baltic Sea situated between Lithuania and Poland.

The satellite navigation disruption is remaining brought about by Russian trucks with jamming gear intended to defend Russian troops from GPS-guided munitions, Benoit Roturier, satellite navigation head of France’s civil aviation authority DGAC, instructed Bloomberg.

“I really don’t consider the goal is to jam civil aviation at this stage,” he mentioned. “That is collateral harm.”

In addition to Kaliningrad, japanese Finland and the Black Sea, GPS disruptions have also been described in the eastern Mediterranean around Cyprus, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, and Northern Iraq, in accordance to the European Union Aviation Protection Company (EASA).

On March 17, EASA revealed a protection info bulletin warning pilots that spoofing and/or jamming had intensified in the 4 geographical locations because of to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The consequences of [Global Navigation Satellite System] GNSS jamming and/or achievable spoofing have been observed by plane in many phases of their flights, in sure conditions primary to rerouting or even to adjust the spot owing to the incapability to conduct a safe landing technique,” EASA reported in a protection information bulletin. 

“Under the existing problems, it is not doable to predict GNSS outages and their consequences. The magnitude of the difficulties produced by this sort of outage would rely upon the extent of the location anxious, on the duration and on the phase of flight of the impacted aircraft.”

Some of the probable challenges that have transpired thanks to the jamming incorporate:

• Loss of capability to use GNSS for waypoint navigation
• Loss of spot navigation (RNAV) tactic ability
• Inability to carry out or retain Essential Navigation Performance (RNP) operations, like RNP and RNP (Authorization Necessary) ways
• Triggering of terrain warnings, probably with pull up commands 
• Inconsistent plane position on the navigation exhibit
• Loss of computerized dependent surveillance-broadcast (Adverts-B), wind shear, terrain and area functionalities
• Failure or degradation of air traffic management (ATM), air navigation companies (ANS) and interaction, navigation and surveillance (CNS) and aircraft units which use GNSS as a time reference
• Likely airspace infringements and/or route deviations thanks to GNSS degradation.

Last month, Finnish Transport and Communications Company Traficom warned pilots of GPS signal interference alongside Finland’s japanese border with Russia.

The transportation company claimed at the time it did not know what was leading to the interference, which is challenging to detect on the floor or confirm simply because of the rather limited durations of interference.

Fintraffic Air Navigation Solutions Ltd. issued a Discover to Air Missions (NOTAM) informing pilots of the challenge and instructing them to use common technique programs that do not call for a GPS signal for flying the remaining approach. Airways ended up also informed to make their personal selections about no matter if or not to fly in the area.

Although the jamming can be a distraction for pilots, airways have procedures in position for when GPS indicators are misplaced. The capability to offer with these types of a disruption, even so, can change because of to aircraft size. Although some plane are equipped to use inertial reference system (IRS) to fix the airplane’s position as a workaround for GPS, it’s a process not common on lesser plane, according to Mentourpilot.com. 

The jamming is a wake-up call, Roturier informed Bloomberg. 

“All of Europe requires to get ready contingency designs for when these satellite devices are dropped,” Roturier stated. “For some nations around the world nearer to the entrance, who may be fewer innovative in putting in location contingency options, the recent situation has served to spotlight the will need.”